Time Machine, The - November 2020

[Darren]

In November we will be reading The Time Machine by H.G. Wells for our Sci-Fi & Fantasy category - who's in?

[Bryan--The Bee’s Knees]

I plan on reading this, but not till later. I had to leave home before the end of the poll and didn't bring either book with me.

BTW: I was about to put out an APB on you--hadn't seen you around for a bit.

[Dennis]

A classic!

[Fay]

I reread it last week ready to join in!

[Eglė]

I read this earlier in the year and did not care for it so will not be rereading but will follow the discussion.

[Jackie]

I will be joining in. I have read it before, but will happily read it again.

[Bryan--The Bee’s Knees]

I finally was able to get around to this, right at the tail end of the month.

I've three or four other novels by Wells, but I think this one is my favorite. Most of the other books were easy for me to understand why they were groundbreaking, but it was hard to get into a state of enthusiasm about subjects that have been reworked so many times over the years (and usually worse).

This time, though, even despite the fact that time travel has to be one of the most used tropes in science-fiction, I felt that Well's treatment of it was really transcendent. I've seen both movies that were based on the book, and I still thought Wells was able to evoke some excitement and creepiness to the story I hadn't expected.

It was, at times, a little preachy--I forgive it. I thought the scenes at the end of time were extremely well done--what a sense of melancholy he evokes.

So--my dad bought me this boxed set of Wells books probably about 40 years ago. I'm finally reading this now, which makes me a bit of a time traveler too. (I've still got to read In the Days of the Comet and Food of the Gods.)